caterwauls are my screams in the night from the back fence,
aimed at the inequitable situations in our present society and the ridiculousness of life's paths........
With a little silliness too . . . for sanity.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Here we go again. Quebec vs Canada.
A recent EKOS poll commissioned by
the CBC found that half of Quebec's anglophone and allophone population have considered
leaving the province in the past year. Allophones are those who do not claim English or French as their first language. Madame Marois has been feeding the flame of separation with English Canadians again, just as Parizeau did those few years ago, and he blamed the 'f***ing ethnics' for that loss.

The EKOS Research Associates study has 51% of anglophones and 49% of allophones wanting/trying/preparing to leave Quebec. They are finding it bleak to live there. In spite of the continuing dole the French-Canadians in Parliament handout to that province. The economy and language anxiety are large factors.

Remember the last vote? It went down to the wire, making 50.58%, and even when it was found later that the 'No' side illegally spent over half a million dollars influencing the vote, and that the people of Quebec were uninformed or misinformed, some might say disinformed. The 1980 question proposed to negotiate 'sovereignty-association' with
the Canadian government, while the 1995 question proposed 'sovereignty',
along with an optional partnership offer to the rest of Canada. The question suggested that English Canadians would somehow agree to this 'partnership' with a sovereign Quebec. And perhaps they would if we allow the present French influence to remain in our parliament. But will we want MPs elected by their Quebec constituents to negotiate the future of Canada with other Quebeckers?

On the night before the last vote, orders came to the Canadian Army serving there, that as of the morning, they would switch their allegiance to Quebec and would no longer be true to Canada! And all the military bases, along with armaments, equipment and hardware would belong to Quebec.

The people of the province were led to believe that everything would remain the same after separation: They believed Quebec would still send seventy-five MPs to Parliament in Ottawa, where they would continue trying to influence Canadian affairs and direct a continuing largess to their own province! They believed, that whatever jobs they had in Ontario would go on as normal, even as they crossed their border into Canada. That they would use Canadian money. That they would still be issued Canadian passports! French would remain the dual language throughout Canada and Canadian embassies around the world. Places like Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories and Whitehorse in the Yukon would still have the costs of a foreign language. They believed that any Federal offices of Canada would just stay in a foreign country to be operated by foreigners, They believed all the products made in Quebec would flow as usual to Canadian provinces and territories to be sold as usual. All that Quebec butter sold in British Columbia under the label Fraser Valley butter and made in Quebec would still melt into our unsuspecting toast on a Vancouver morning. The so called partnership only deceived the Quebec naivete that they would continue the welfare dole from the rest of Canada. They voted on that carefully engineered but uncertain plan. It was deception.

So they nearly did it that time under the smoky leadership of Parizeau. Is Marois a bigger threat? Yes, she is smarter than the others. Careful and calculating. She has recently said she will use no English in her new election campaign. If she gets a majority government, a new referendum will follow.

And what preparations is the Canadian government making for this inevitability? Seems like none. Why? Because the government is largely controlled by people from Quebec. They don't want anything scary falling into the deliberate mix Marois is making for her very own country.

So what should the Canadian government do? Or what should the people of Quebec know about before their crucial vote? (During the last vote, Jean Chretien said literally nothing about the situation, and many believe he was so quiet on the issue so he could call himself the Father of his Country when the Yes vote came in. It was deception by omission.) The people of that province need to know we have no interest in any partnership that only shovels more money into their coffers.

MPs from everywhere BUT Quebec should be considering the huge backlash across the country after a province largely supported by them thumbs it's nose and leaves. Would the separation force a Canadian election? Who do you vote for? Born in Alberta Stephen Harper? Quebec Native Justin Trudeau? Thomas Mulcare who had no evidence of a Canadian flag at his Montreal convention?
And what real claims does Quebec actually have in Canada? None. General Wolfe settled those claims for the British in 1759.

And be aware Quebec, that any negotiations will take place with the balance of power in Canada, shifted dramatically to the West.

Note that aboriginals fought for Wolfe

Quebeckers should know that: Their will be no sovereignty association. If they leave they will not take the Canadian Armed Forces or their equipment with them. Companies located in Quebec will have to pass the same scrutiny to sell their goods as any other foreign country and will have to compete with any Canadian business who can supply or do the same job. Any MP in Ottawa will be sent home immediately to run for his own 'National Assembly'. We will stop all transfer payments from Canada to Quebec, no need to support a foreign country. All passports held by citizens of Quebec will be immediately cancelled. Canadian Embassies will look after Canadian business and interests. Quebec may apply for Consular status to use our stations. All military work, maintenance etc, will be shifted out of Quebec to Canadian owned and operated companies. Any jobs held by Quebeckers in Ontario will be immediately terminated, supervisors escorted from the buildings by security, and those jobs advertised for Canadians to apply for. There will be Customs and Immigration Posts at all border points. All goods manufactured in Quebec will be assessed the current tariffs equal to any other country starting up. Most Favoured Nation status will have to be applied for, no different than Korea or Togo. The only language preference for Canada will be English, with certain allowances for local populations and their dominant language. Yes that still means French in some areas, but also aboriginal languages and Chinese, Italian, Punjabi or whatever the majority in the community is.

Negotiations for the separation will be made between whom ever Quebec sends, and Canadian negotiators born outside of Quebec. Canadians with their bent for fairness will negotiate in good faith, of course, but without the prospect of continuing the 20 billion in transfer payments currently flowing into that have-not province. And with due consideration of the desires of the Northern Aboriginals in Quebec who have always expressed their strong feelings to remain, with their territories as Canadians.

Quebec will be free to follow its own clouded destiny. In their wishes to be very French we suspect they will make agreements and treaties with France, Haiti or any Francophone country that will deal with them. We wonder how they will sell goods into America with nothing but the French language on them.
But whatever the result of Pauline Marois and her political ambitions to be the head of a brand new country, she is no Iron Lady who can influence an old country stinging from a Yes vote to give her what she wants.And Pauline, please be honest with your people, you don't want your new country formed on lies or deceptions. Oui?

Wherever the progression goes for Quebec leaving Canada, we need to be perfectly clear to Canadians and the people of Quebec what will happen on the day after a Yes vote and a majority. But we need to make that clarity long before any vote.
We don't wish you anything bad, Quebec, only good riddance. Canada, now we need you to Stand on Guard for us.